‘We followed our normal protocols’: Vice President of UVU speaks on deadly shooting of Charlie Kirk on campus

OREM, Utah (ABC4) — Utah Valley University Vice President Val Peterson held a press conference to address questions regarding yesterday’s event, where Charlie Kirk was assassinated on campus.

“Yesterday’s event was a tragic event. It’s reprehensible that an event like that would happen on a college or university campus. Our condolences go out to the Kirk family at this very difficult time,” Peterson said.

Peterson stated that UVU is focusing on their students, faculty, and staff to ensure that they are receiving the support and mental health services that they need.

He noted that UVU is considered one of the safest campuses in the U.S., among the top 10%. Peterson said that the event, planned by a student club, went through normal protocols for something of that scale.

“As we look at this event, it was to make sure that there was an opportunity for both sides to hear the messages. So as we reflect on everything, like I said, our core concern is our students, our faculty, and our staff,” Peterson expressed.

Going forward, Peterson said, UVU hopes to learn from what happened at this event. He stated that “normal protocols” were followed when planning the appearance at UVU.

“We have to get that information, we have to assemble that information, we have to verify that information and then even after all of that, through all of the chaos, that information was changing every second,” Peterson explained, when asked about parents and students who expressed concerns about the slow release of information.

When asked about mental health resources for students, Peterson stated that students have already been coming to the Young Living Alumni Center for support, and that UVU is working to provide help to all students who need it. Earlier today, UVU shared resources available to students.

Peterson confirmed that UVU will be having an after-action review to discuss everything that happened as a campus community. When asked about students who had trouble locking doors, he said that problems with physical facilities will be repaired and that UVU tries to ensure the campus is in good physical shape.

“We followed our normal protocols yesterday, we will hopefully learn from things that have happened, and we will continue to move forward as one of the safest campuses in the United States,” Peterson concluded.